the goan I network
PANAJI
Over the past two years, records show that the maximum number of Caesarean births are taking place in Goa’s commercial capital, Margao.
According to statistics with the Health Management Information System (HIMS), which was obtained through RTI, 1,485 of the 4,313 surgeries conducted in private hospitals in 2018-19 were conducted in Margao. No other town or village in Goa came close to this figure, as far as private hospitals are concerned. Ponda was second on the list with 608 C-Sections being conducted in private hospitals, and Panaji came in third with 400 surgeries.
This is opposed to 723 normal deliveries reported for the same time period in Margao, 569 normal births in Ponda, and 235 normal births in Panaji. In almost all towns/villages where births are reported in private hospitals, C-sections are far higher than normal births, with a few exceptions.
In Candolim, there were 68 Caesareans and 105 normal births, the only place where normal births were considerably higher than C-Sections.
As far as government hospitals are concerned, GMC saw the most C-sections at 1,318 during 2018-19. This was 36% of the total births. 2,332 deliveries at the GMC were normal. The North Goa district hospital saw 919 C-sections, compared with 1,653 normal births. The South Goa District Hospital saw 900 C-Sections compared with 1,761 normal births.
In all other government health centers where births were registered, normal deliveries were more than C-Sections. In fact, the procedure has been carried out in just five of the 24 listed government centers, whereas normal births have been recorded in 18 government centers.
Of the 17 villages where births in private hospitals have been registered, C-sections have been carried out, unsurprisingly, in all 17.
Margao topped the list of C-sections even during 2017-18 with 1,624 C-sections in private hospitals vis-Ã -vis 974 normal births. In that time period, GMC witnessed 1,445 C-sections compared with 2,752 normal births.
Interestingly, in the previous year, 2016-17, there were 597 C-section births in private hospitals in Margao, indicating a sudden surge in the following two years. During this time period, there were 924 reported normal births in private hospitals in the city. Till this year, no city (except GMC) had crossed the 1,000 mark for C-Sections.
